The Colorado Rocky Mountain School (CRMS) is a college-preparatory independent high school located thirty miles northwest of Aspen in the mountains of western Colorado. CRMS enrolls 170 students in grades 9-12 from 24 states and 10 countries. Since its founding in 1953, CRMS has challenged students to fully invest in their learning. Early philosophical influences include Kurt Hahn, director of the Salem and Gordonstoun Schools in Germany and England and the founder of Outward Bound, and John Dewey, a renowned educator and intellectual. Key to the underpinnings of our progressive and experiential program are close faculty-student relationships and a skill-based academic curriculum balanced with outdoor activities that challenge young people to develop skills, judgment, responsibility, and a service ethic. Also significant are tasks related to the daily life and well-being of the community. Our balanced curriculum of rigorous college-preparatory courses, wilderness education, and service learning, all in a residential setting, allows students to cultivate writing, comprehension, and critical thinking. CRMS challenges students to excel in a college-preparatory academic curriculum balanced within a program of the arts, athletics, physical work, service to the community, and enriching wilderness experience.
The CRMS Intern Program offers the opportunity to become fully immersed in the three integral parts of our program: academic, active, and residential.
• Academic: Mentorship with a CRMS faculty member in a specific subject area (History, Math, Literature, Modern Languages, Science, Art, Technology, College Counseling), as well as participation in our weeklong Interim program.
• Active: Involvement in our afternoon active program (kayaking, climbing, mountain biking, and Nordic and downhill skiing) and our three outdoor trips (Wilderness orientation (10 days), Fall (4 days) & Spring Trip (7 days); participation in wilderness skills, wilderness medicine, and avalanche awareness trainings; and ongoing mentorship with a faculty leader in a specific outdoor sport.